pear juice - or prune juice with water ;-) And if it's REALLY bad - LO's pedi prescribed glycerin suppositories - a half one when needed. She's 8 mos actual and I've had them for MONTHS and used them like 2 or 3 times. So I don't worry about dependency on them.

I am curious what others have to say... my DD is still in the nicu and she hasn't pooped in 2 days and the last time she did it was after the nurse gave her a suppository. She is BF with a fortifier added but she is also on vitamins including iron and caffeine. I don't think this is a big deal because she is BF and I know they can poop once a day or once a week, can't seem to figure out why the doctors are so concerned... she isn't sick and her belly has always looked good and soft..

In the NICU my son went 3 days once without a poop, he wasn't straining and had a soft belly so they didn't worry. He was having risdules after his feed though. Then he pooped (a HUGE one) on his own and ate like he was starving!

If it happens again, ask your doctor why they want to use a suppository and ask if they can hold off for awhile.

Are you giving LO cereal? I had to give DS cereal the first 3 months in his bottle to help with relux and help him gain weight, It made him constipated too, I did the same as other posts, apple jucie,pear juice,water, prune juice.

MY LO only had a BM every 3-4-5 days and we were worried and even had her tested for hirschrung disease (sp?) but everything looked good. She needed a suppository every 3rd or 4th days if she hadn't gone for a couple months, I would say until she was about 6 months and then finally started to get a little better. Her pediatrician finally said something that made sense to me. She said that our little preemies take all of their BM/formula and really use every bit of it, so they don't have as much to "release" as often as other babies and they won't need to go as often. I really think the fortifier and other extra's really add alot of extra that clogs them up, not to mention that they just really need to build that muscle to push it out. After my LO was done with breast milk, the preemie formula, enfamil enfacare kinda did the same thing (clogged her up a bit). She is now 13.5 months (11 adjusted) and we just switched over to the enfagrow toddler formula and I have seen an improvement with her BM's. Now she goes maybe once a day, but every other for sure. That's just her thing and I have finally accepted that is how she is and it is totally NORMAL for her.

Well my DD had constipation really bad. No juices worked for her so we finally had to use fleet, and it worked instantly. She never became dependent, she just needed some help. I tried the wait it out thing and she ended up with a tag by her butt from pushing so hard. I think the more we can do to help the better. Good luck. I hope things start moving along.